Expectations
by seductionleadstodestruction
Summary: And in all honesty, that's all she really wanted. She wanted to sparkle. 'Channy'.


They all expected her to be like Tawni. They wanted her to be pretty and primped, they wanted her to giggle, they wanted her to party, but mostly, they wanted her to sparkle.

But Sonny couldn't sparkle like Tawni. In her own eyes, at least.

Sonny didn't live up to their expectations, but she didn't mind it. She tried not to let petty things like that get to her. She tried. But sometimes, Sonny wished she could be pretty and primped, that she could let out a cute and carefree giggle, that she could make it through a party without getting bored. Because then, maybe Sonny would sparkle.

And in all honesty, that's all she ever really wanted. She wanted to sparkle.

* * *

Upon sharing this information with her best friend, Lucy, she'd been given a list of things to do in order to sparkle.

_Be nice to everyone._

Sonny had always been nice to everyone. There wasn't a soul she had ever been rude to, or even thought rude things about.

Well, apart from Chad Dylan Cooper. But who _was_ nice to him?

"Chad," she sneered as she spotted him in the cafeteria the night after Lucy had made her the list. The number one bullet popped into her mind as she incinuated their morning argument. Wanting to stick to her goal, she decided to suck it up and be nice.

"Sonny," he spat out, using a tone just as cold. Taking a breath, Sonny smiled at him. Chad's eyebrows rose in confusion. He cleared his throat, buying time before he had to respond to her odd behavior. Mostly, he was trying to figure out _what_ to say to this odd facial expression. But he didn't have to comment.

"How has your morning been going?" Sonny's voice came out light and fluffy, like she'd practiced. Pleased with herself, she let the niceness sink in. She let the smile stay on her face.

"It was great," Chad said, eying her suspiciously.

"Oh really? That's really good to hear-" Sonny began speaking, but Chad cut her off.

"No, you didn't let me finish. My morning was going great, until _you_ started talking to me."

Sonny's jaw dropped, but she quickly regained composure. With a quick _hmph!_ and a stomp of her foot, she turned on her heel, swinging her hair around as she made her way out of the cafeteria, shouting a noisy, "You suck, Chad!" behind her.

* * *

_Laugh at other's jokes._

"-and he _ate_ it!" Grady's punchline hadn't exactly fit with his joke, but Sonny's loud laughter rang out through stage 3.

"Oh my gosh, Grady, that is _priceless_!" She praised, and Grady shook his head, waving off her gratitude, though he truly appreciated it. Tawni grunted.

"That joke was stupid."

Sonny's eyebrows creased in confusion. Looking at Tawni, she still saw the sparkle. And it confused her. Tawni had just broken two rules within a span of thirty seconds, yet Sonny could still feel the sparkle radiating from Tawni's personality. Figuring she was doing something wrong, Sonny gave up on her list. She needed a new approach.

"Morning, Cooper."

"Wow, someone's in a grumpy mood. Grumpy McGrumpy Pants," Chad commented on Sonny's irrational change in behavior from the day before. Her voice sounded even harder than usual, and Chad knew something was wrong.

"Shut up Chad, I'm not in the mood for your annoying and childish antics at the moment."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm going to have to ask you to calm yourself, Sonny. You're being very overreative-"

"Did you not hear what I just said?!" Sonny shrieked, interrupting him. Chad stepped back involuntary, genuinely frightened by the way her expression seemed completely serious.

Chad awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, looking around the parking lot to see if anyone had witnessed her outburst. Realizing that they were alone and no one would hear the rare occurance that was soon to happen, Chad gathered all the courage he had and muttered, "I'm sorry," before stalking off into the building. Sonny stared at his retreating figure and knew he didn't see it.

She acted cold and heartless, just like Tawni. And she still wasn't sparkling.

And as she watched Chad step through the doors of the studio building, Sonny let out a sigh of discontent. Because it was obvious that Chad didn't see a sparkle.

And he was the one she wanted to witness the sparkle most.

* * *

As Chad roamed the empty hallways of stage 6, the set of an animated television show that had been recently cancelled, he heard what sounded like crying. He stopped, trying to pinpoint the origin of the noise. Realizing it was coming from a soundstage, he made his way over to the crier. He spotted the figure, immediately knowing it was a girl with dark hair. Chad figured it was most likely someone from another show that he didn't know, had never met, and would probably never _want_ to meet, he turned on his heel, ready to walk out.

Until he heard the actual voice of the girl mutter a single word.

"Stupid."

Recognizing the voice, Chad turned back around, rushing to the girl, sitting next to her on the edge of the small stage.

Sonny knew who it was. Without lifting her head, without looking through her curtain of hair, she knew it was him.

"Please go away, Chad," she whimpered. Without uttering a single word, Chad wrapped his arms around the crying girl.

"What's wrong?" He asked after a moment of silence between the two. Sonny didn't respond, so he pulled back, loosening his grip on her. "Seriously, what's up?"

"Nothing," she responded quietly, wiping her tears with the sleeve of her jacket. She knew it wasn't ladylike, and she knew it definately didn't make her sparkle, but it was impulse.

"Please don't lie to me, Sonny."

"Why do you even care, Chad?" Sonny asked, purposely ignoring his question.

"Don't avoid the question. I care because...because I care about you. And I want to know what's wrong so I can help fix it. My morning was a complete drag because I had no one to argue with," Chad responded honestly, completely releasing her from his hold.

Sonny sighed. "I'm sure there was plenty of other people for you to argue with, Chad."

"Sure there was. In fact, I argued with Portlyn, I argued with our director, hell, I even got to diss Tawni at lunch. But it wasn't the same as arguing with you."

"Why?" Sonny asked, and Chad slung an arm casually around her shoulder.

"Because," he said, looking into her brown eyes, "you're my favorite. Out of everyone here, I like you the best. And arguing with you? My favorite thing to do here. So when I'm denied my favorite activity, it kind of puts a damper on my day."

"Oh," was all Sonny could think to say. Her mind was jumbled. She didn't think he could see a sparkle, if all he wanted to do was argue with her.

"So, are you going to tell me what's wrong, or will I have to pry it out of you?" Chad asked finally, after a comfortable silence had set in between the two of them.

Sonny sighed, trying to rack her brain for a decent lie, but she came up empty. Giving her best, she began to speak.

"I'm jealous of Tawni."

Chad's eyes widened, and a chuckle escaped his lips.

"Why?" He asked incredulously, shaking his head at the mere thought.

"Because she's prettier than me, and she's funnier than me, and she giggles more than me, and she can party, and everyone likes her, and I don't live up to the expectations of her, and because..." Sonny's voice trailed off, now beginning to feel embarrassed about her confession.

"Because what?" Chad questioned, his voice quiet, almost a whisper. Sonny turned away from him, her face red with humiliation. "Sonny, come on. None of those things are true. Give me something real and I'll help you fix it."

Sonny muttered something, but Chad couldn't understand. "What'd you say?"

"She sparkles."

Chad looked at Sonny. His eyes bored into hers, trying to read into her simple statement. And he got it.

"You don't think you sparkle?" He asked, not breaking their stare. Sonny shook her head, sniffling a little as she did so. "Why not?"

"Because I'm nothing like her. She sparkles, and I don't." Sonny's explanation wasn't much, and Chad wasn't satisfied.

"Everybody sparkles differently, Sonny," Chad said, his voice confident.

"Really?" Sonny asked, hope filling her voice.

"Yeah, and I think you sparkle better than Tawni anyday."

* * *

**A/N-** I don't really know how I feel about this, so I guess I'll just find out if it's a hit or miss according to reviews, which I hope to be receiving :)  
-Amber


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